SWIMMING: Highlights of the 2013 NSW Swimming Championships held in Sydney.

Sunday wrap: Coutts snares six crowns

Five-time London Olympic medallist Alicia Coutts showed enormous versatility and stamina to finish with six gold medals and five personal bests at the NSW swimming titles on Sunday evening.

A lung-busting nine-event schedule at the three-day meet at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre also gleaned two bronze medals for the 25-year-old.

On the final night of competition, Coutts added the 50m breaststroke (32.01) and 200 individual medley (2m11.13), winning the latter by more than five seconds.

A weary Coutts backed up less than half an hour later to finish third (28.51) behind Emily Seebohm (28.40) and Japan's Aya Terakawa (27.89) in the 50m backstroke.

Over the first two nights she also won the 50 and 100m freestyle and 50 and 100m butterfly and finished third in the 100m breaststroke.

Along the way, Coutts recorded personal bests in the 50 and 100m backstroke, the 50 and 100m breaststroke and 50m butterfly.

She is now ranked in the Australian all-time top ten of each stroke over 100m apart from breaststroke.

It was the most events she had ever done at a meet, eclipsing the eight she contested at this year's Victorian titles.

"It's been a big few days, but I'm really happy with my swims," Coutts said.

She is primed for next month's national championships in Adelaide which serve as qualifiers for July's world championships in Barcelona.

"I'm still in hard training, I haven't tapered for the meet and it gives me more confidence knowing that I'm still able to swim decent times," Coutts said.

London Olympic 100m freestyle silver medallist James Magnussen had to settle for equal second in the 50m freestyle final.

Andrew Abood (22.38) tipped the wall just ahead of his brother Matthew, who clocked 22.56 along with Magnussen, who went 22.43 in his morning heat to be fastest qualifier.

He clocked 48.55 leading off his club team in a 4x100 freestyle relay, having done 48.90 and 48.61s in the individual 100m freestyle on Friday and an anchor leg of 47.76 in a 4X100m medley relay the same night.

"I felt really comfortable tonight in the 100 and feeling more and more than I've got that down pat," Magnussen said.

"To get four 48s (in the 100 freestyle) on the weekend, is pretty good training."

London Olympic 200m freestyle bronze medallist Bronte Barratt won the NSW title (1m57.51s), having captured the 400m freestyle crown on Saturday night.

AAP

Saturday wrap: Fraser-Holmes conquers quality field for 200 freestyle title

With a field that included six Australian Olympic swimmers as well as dual London Olympic medallist from Japan, the men’s 200m freestyle final was always going to be a fight to the finish.

Olympic finalist in this event Thomas Fraser-Holmes looked to have a comfortable lead until his Olympic teammate Cameron McEvoy (1:47.74) turned on the speed for the final lap, almost catching Fraser-Holmes at the wall.   The 21-year-oldmanaged to hold off McEvoy and take the title in 1:47.64, just one tenth of a second ahead.

Twenty-eight-year-old Takeshi Matsuda finished with the bronze medal in a time of 1:48.64.

With the qualifying time for the FINA World Championships sitting at 1:47.39, both Fraser-Holmes and McEvoy are already posting encouraging times.

Japan’s Aya Terakawa (59.16) was too strong tonight for Emily Seebohm (1:00.64) in the final of the women’s 100m backstroke. Despite a strong field, Terakawa gained a body length on Seebohm with 25m to go and could not be caught.

Finalist from this event in London Belinda Hocking (1:00.69) managed to hang on for third with medley master Alicia Coutts (1:01.03) clocking an impressive backstroke time and chasing her down to finish fourth.

Dual Olympians Bronte Barratt and Kylie Palmer were at it again in the final of the women’s 400m freestyle. The pair, who are regular rivals, teased the crowd, taking turns in the lead all the way to the wall as Barratt battled to defend her title and Palmer to steal the crown.

Twenty-four-year-old Barratt took the win by the smallest of margins, hitting the wall in 4:08.51 to Palmer’s 4:08.52. The pair were just outside the FINA World Championship qualifying time of 4:07.61 but both look in good form to improve at the EnergyAustralia Swimming Championships beginning in April.

Leading the chase was St Peters Western swimmer Katie Goldman who picked up the bronze in a time of 4:09.61.

In other events:

Men’s 50m Butterfly:
Sydney University swimmer Sam McConnell (24.22) was the winner in the splash and dash men’s 50m butterfly final. McConnell managed to hold off fastest qualifier from this morning’s heat Andrew Smith (24.26) and backstroker Ben Treffers (24.29) for the title.

Women’s 100m Butterfly:
In her first final of the night, Alicia Coutts was well ahead of the field in the women’s 100m butterfly final. Sitting nearly half a body-length in front at the turn, Coutts stopped the clock in 58.00, just 0.03 off the Barcelona World Championship qualifying time.
Despite her best efforts to catch up Ellen Gandy had to settle for silver in 58.30 with Yuka Kato (59.47) from Japan taking the bronze.

Men’s 200m Backstroke:
The Japanese were too strong in the final of the men’s 200m backstroke, taking the top spots in convincing fashion, with Ryosuke Irie touching first in 1:54.72 ahead of teammate Kosuke Hagino second in 1:55.12. 
Beijing Olympian Ashley Delaney stepped up to take third in 1:58.81 ahead of London Olympian Matson Lawson who finished fourth in 2:00.06.

Men’s 100m Breaststroke:
The final of the men’s 100m breaststroke also saw a Japanese one-two with promising 18-year-old Akihiro Yamaguchi taking the title in a time of 1:01.45 ahead of teammate and breaststroke legend Kosuke Kitajima (1:02.49).  Nunawading swimmer Max Ireland showed good form again to take the bronze 1:02.84.

Men’s 100m Multi Class Backstroke:
Training partners Sean Russo (1:02.14) and Michael Auprince (1:08.65) finished with the gold and silver medals respectively following the final of the men’s 100m Multi Class Breaststroke. The bronze medal went to 16-year-old Oliver Cox in 1:14.10.

Women’s 100m Multi Class Backstroke:
Paralympian Jacqui Freney picked up her second title for the day with a win in the women’s 100m Multi Class backstroke final. Freney’s time of 1:24.83 was good enough to relegate fellow Paralympian Ellie Cole to second in 1:12.81 and Taylor Corry third in 1:12.23.

Women’s 200m Breaststroke:
London Olympic finalist in this event Sally Foster has taken the breaststroke double and set a New South Wales record with a win in the women’s 200m breaststroke final. The silver medal went to 15-year-old Jenna Strauch who posted a promising 2:28.14 to relegate Reona Aoki (2:28.94) from Japan to third.

Women’s 50m Freestyle:
In her third event for the evening but showing no signs of slowing down, Alicia Coutts sprinted to victory in the women’s 50m freestyle final, picking up her fourth title of the meet so far in 25.37. Macquarie University swimmer Melissa Mitchell (25.44) hit the wall second with 17-year-old Ellen O’Rourke (25.58) picking up the bronze.

Men’s 200m Individual Medley:
Japanese swimmer and London Olympic bronze medallist Kosuke Hagino has blitzed the field in the men’s 200m individual medley, taking the title in a time of 1:57.68.   Fellow Sydney-siders Daniel Tranter and Kenneth To (1:59.52) were left to fight for the silver medal with Tranter just out-touching To in a time of 1:59.18.

Friday: Coutts takes two from three

Backing up for her third swim of the night at the 2013 NSW State Championships, AIS swimmer Alicia Coutts finished on top of the podium for the second time in less than an hour, in the final of the women’s 100m freestyle.

With barely enough time to take a breather between events, Coutts managed to keep calm and in control of her hectic schedule finishing the night with a win in both the 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle as well as a bronze in the 100m breaststroke.

In the 100m free, the five-time Olympic medallist from London hit the wall in 54.73 just over half a second off the Australian qualifying time (54.26) for this year’s FINA World Championships, proving she has the skills and the fitness to back-up and post impressive times.

Finishing in second place, also a sub 55-second swim was 16-year-old Ami Matsuo who hit the wall in 54.95 ahead of Wests Illawarra swimmer Emma McKeon and London Olympian Yolane Kukla who finished equal third in 55.11.

In final of the men’s 100m freestyle James Magnussen managed to defend his 2012 title and secure the win in a time of 48.61, edging him ever closer to the 48.46 required for World Championship qualification.

The 21-year-old was too strong for his  London Olympic teammate Cameron McEvoy (49.31) who posted a fast final 50m to pick up the silver, ahead of second fastest qualifier from the morning Kenneth To (49.44) in third.

Regular rivals Belinda Hocking and Meagen Nay battled for bragging rights in the women’s 200m backstroke, leaving the rest of the field behind to finish first and second respectively.

A silver medallist at the 2011 World Championships, Hocking’s time of 2:08.41 eclipsed the 2:08.79 qualifying standard for Barcelona, putting her in fine form ahead of next month’s EnergyAustralia Swimming Championships in Adelaide

A finalist from London in this event, Nay also snuck under the qualifying time finishing in 2:08.55 ahead of Melbourne Vicentre swimmer Hayley Baker who took third in 2:12.45.

In other events…

Men’s 400m Freestyle:
Following a strong performance at the BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series in January, London Olympian David McKeon has set another solid time for the men’s 400m freestyle hitting the wall in 3:47.14 – just shy of the 3:46.88 qualifying time required to make the team for this year’s FINA World Championships.
Leading for the majority of the race, McKeon was just out-touched for the title by a fast finishing Kosuke Hagino (3:46.89). Seventeen-year-old Jordan Harrison (3:48.43) got the better of training partner Thomas Fraser-Holmes (3:48.56) to round out the top three.

Women’s 50m Butterfly:
With three finals within two hours, Alicia Coutts began her evening with a win in the women’s 50m butterfly final in an impressive time of 26.36. Coutts’ London Olympic relay teammate Brittany Elmslie was relegated to second in 26.72 with Japan’s Yuka Kato third in a time of 26.81.

Men’s 200m Butterfly:
The Japanese swimmers continued their assault on the podium with Takeshi Matsuda (1:56.68) and Yuta Kimura (1:58.47) taking first and third respectively in the final of the men’s 200m butterfly. Splitting the two and taking second place was Victorian Tiger Sharks swimmer Mitchel Pratt in a time of 1:58.47.

Men’s 50m Breaststroke:
Nunawading swimmer Max Ireland (28.32) sprinted to victory in the men’s 50m breaststroke, relegating Japanese swimmers Akihiro Yamaguchi (28.45) to second and former Olympic breaststroke champion Kosuke Kitajima (28.50) to third.
Women’s 400m Individual Medley:
Dual Olympian Samantha Hamill (4:44.31) cruised to victory in the women’s 400m IM, stopping the clock over three seconds ahead of her nearest rival, 19-year-old Keryn McMaster (4:47.60).  Japan’s Namiki Ueda was third in 4:48.18.

Women’s 100m Breaststroke:
The switch to Adelaide seems to have suited dual Olympian Sally Foster with the 27-year-old taking the 100m breaststroke title in a time of 1:08.16. Foster was followed closely by World Short Course representative and up-and-comer Samantha Marshall in 1:08.82, and swimming in her second final for the night, Alicia Coutts took third in 1:09.08.

Men’s 50m Backstroke:
London Olympian Daniel Arnamnart (25.17) was too quick for Japan’s Ryosuke Irie (25.42) in the final of the men’s 50m backstroke stealing the win in 25.17. AIS based swimmer Benjamin Treffers finished a touch behind in third with his time of 25.47.

Women’s 800m Freestyle:
St Peters Western swimmer Katie Goldman (8:31.30) has proven she is back in form with a narrow win in the women’s 800m freestyle ahead of London Olympian Jessica Ashwood (8:32.60). Ryde-Carlile swimmer Laura Crockart took third in 8:33.42.

Swimming Australia